Yes, I was not suggesting that Plato was budget. I had originally not realized how much of the others I first considered -was Chinese import. (I did start looking about 2 years ago before all the tariffs and drama). When I tried to search for US Made ( as opposed to US warehouse) the choices were much diminished. I knew someone connected with Plato so I still paid more than the other brands, but I know that I got superb quality. As I said, everything that came was ready to install... Any research I did confirmed that Plato was a superior product.

I love the quality of Barker Doors. I've also had great responses and beautiful sample doors from The Door Stop (cabinetdoors.com) and Sherr's. Prices are pretty comparable, I've found, but then I'm concerned more with the quality. I want things done once, done right, done my way.

So I read this about the 10-20% suggestion -- "The suggested numbers will be skewed at both the low end and the high end. It's really hard to do anything less than a 15K kitchen in a 50K house, as even rental grade components still cost a certain amount. It's the same with the upper end homes in areas where the market hasn't crashed too badly. When you live in a 1950's 1400 square foot box close inside the beltway in DC, you're not likely to spend 100K on a kitchen, even if your home is valued at that 1M. Most of the value is in the land, not the home." I was thinking "holy moly" until I read the qualifier -- five bedroom house in Arlington way inside the beltway (closer to 4k feet than 1.5) and we never ever pondered 100-200k when we were updating our kitchen. With respect to cabinets, we went the other way when updating (not remodeling -- and not gutting and rebuilding) our kitchen. When we bought the house a little over 13 years ago, it had a newly updated kitchen. White Shrock cabinets -- no solid wood was harmed in their construction. We never loved them, but we never hated them either. They're still fine. Heavy use from a family of five (well, 5 for the past 9 years) and they're still fine. Some little issues here and there, but they are not falling apart or listing or coming off the walls. When updating the kitchen early this year we started with the cooking facilities -- a 36" range and proper hood, with adequate ventilation. Added a new floor, because it really was time, a new matching pantry (which does have some solid wood inside), and small things, such as pot racks. We elected not to replace the cabinets because the old ones basically still work for us and the basic white looks fine to us -- not beautiful or lovely or awesome, but fine. Lovely cabinets are lovely, but it's a big kitchen, and the extra 30k or more we might have spent on substantially nicer cabinets was money we chose to keep. Similarly, we kept our granite counters -- not our favorite pattern, but a decent neutral tone, decent counter space, and they've held up just dandy to everything -- hot pans, you name it. I've nothing at all against the up-market cabinet suggestions. Paying for quality materials and workmanship absolutely makes sense if it's in-budget and appreciated. I'm just adding the perspective of somebody who has found a more budget oriented option to hold up fine. For me, the kitchen is about cooking. Storage is necessary, but I start with the cooking equipment -- range or top plus oven(s), ventilation, and prep space. For me -- just my perspective -- the boxes come somewhere down towards last. For free, I'd swap them in a heartbeat, but it's not free.

The whole point of using inset is to do a high end and custom look. That means doing many modifications that the average internet retailer doesn't do, and the average cabinet purchaser doesn't understand or appreciate. The cabinets are only about 40% of the equation. The modifications to make things work in your space are another 30%, and the install is the remaining 30%. Unless you can accurately specify those modifications and have a top notch installer who can scribe those stiles to the walls etc., then your money is being wasted on attempting the look.